Television ratings low for WEC 47

Despite a fight card that had highlight knockouts, quick submissions, a championship belt changing hands and lots of blood, ratings for the WEC 47 broadcast on Versus were low. According to MMA Junkie, the fights drew a 0.46 share and 373,000 viewers.

In comparison, WEC 46, which featured Urijah Faber in his first bout back since injuring both hands in a fight with Mike Brown, and a title unification bout between Ben Henderson and Jamie Varner, drew 640,000 viewers.

In Columbus, the fight card was a success. After strong walk-up and day before sales, 8,345 people filled Nationwide Arena, the WEC's fifth largest crowd.

So what is the problem? Versus being pulled off DirecTV is partly to blame, but Versus was off DirecTV in January when WEC 46 pulled in such strong numbers.

Was it the line-up? Though Dominick Cruz and Brian Bowles, the card's headliners, are not the most well-known fighters, Jens Pulver and Miguel Torres were on the card. Regardless of the fact that they both lost, they're usually both popular enough to get people to watch.